The first synthetic hockey turf stadium in Kashmir division is being constructed in Pulwama district.
The stadium is being constructed in Government Boys Higher Secondary School Pulwama at a cost of Rs 5 crore under augmentation of sports infrastructure scheme in Jammu and Kashmir.
District Youth Services and Sports officer Pulwama Syed Noor ul Haq said that this will be international standard stadium with dimensions 102 metre×62 metre and is expected to get complete upto 15th October.
He said that there are hundreds of youth interested in hockey in Kashmir but in absence of stadium they were not able to show their talent, however, with the stadium available now youth can play hockey.
Haq said that this will be first kind of such stadium in Kashmir and such infrastructure will motivate youth themselves to take part in sports activities.
“Our main aim to keep our young generation engaged in sports activities for which more infrastructure is being built which hopefully will help us to keep them away from drugs,” he said.
He said that once stadium will be completed, they will organise a state level followed by national level tournament here so that local youth too can get exposure to play this game well.
He added that international players will hopefully also play hockey here as this stadium will be of international standard and for the night stay of the players few structures will come also nearby stadium.
Ariz Ahmad a hockey player said that they have been waiting for stadium since years and getting a stadium of international standard in Pulwama is like a miracle.
He added that stadium was a basic need for the growth of Hockey at the grass root level and we must have to thank LG Government for providing such an infrastructure.
